A LONG COMPLICATED STORY
by JaYsO
Summary: it all started as kenshin was a tiny, little kid....


My story  
  
I am exact 14 years old this year and was supposed to be wearing extravagances and fashionable clothes because all my relatives are rich, but look at me, I have been wearing this cheap, plain clothes for years and its original color, which I cant remember what is was, has already faded after being washed and washed. My family doesn't even treat me as well as they are to the servants because of my troublesome birth. I've been told that my mom died right after she smiled at me when I was born. She had a really bad reputation in the family because my father, who I have never seen, was a black smith and not belongs to a wealthy family. People have been pointing their fingers at me for years and saying that's the wicked kids from his wicked mom who got pregnant by the black smith. Even my own family members say things as harsh as that to me all the time. I tried not to show my feelings on my face and ignore them as much as possible, but those words are just like sharp knives, every time it hits me, it leaves a deep scar inside my heart.  
  
The day I have been waiting for my whole life has finally come to real, I was about to put in a charity school as my wealthy family has eventually got tired of looking after me. The misery is about to end, I remind myself as the coach came, which was sent by the school to pick me and take me all the way there. The school is 100 miles away from my living place and it was a long trip to go back then. Five long hours had passed and I fell asleep.  
  
By the time I woke up, I found myself to be lying on a small single bed in a total strange place. There are about 20 other kids in the same bedroom, sleeping deeply. "I must be in the school now." I murmured to myself. I was so excited that I could not sleep any more and just wanting for the dawn to come, which will bring joy and happiness to me as the first day of school is going to start.  
  
First day at school  
  
All the students at the school seemed to be really nice to each other and it didn't take long for me to get know many people as my friends. We studied about God and history in the first class, I didn't get any sort of proper education before, except the time I had a governess to teach me how to bow down when the guests came. Although I had no idea what the teacher is talking about, I still had a good time and participated as much as almost everyone else. The first day at school wasn't bad at all, I actually had a fun time being around with people who never knew about my past, and if they knew it, they wouldn't care anyways, because those of the kids here are also orphans like me. We all have the most important thing in common and that's why we get along with each other well. When it was the dinnertime, we came to the huge cafeteria I have ever seen in my life; it is ten times bigger than the hallway at my old house. There are about 50 tables set up in there and on the top of each table, there was delicious, intriguing looking food. We all were hungry and found the best seats. Before we grab the knives and forks, every one closed their eyes and said their prayers. After dinner, I was full than I had ever been in my life and just went sleep. It was the best day in my entire life and this is how I have exactly pictured heaven.  
  
The Stranger  
  
It has been 2 mouths since I began my way of studying from this school: Highcool. Nothing bad had happened to me yet, but I could sense something is going to happen today and it's not going to be any good. As usually, I was woken up by the loud morning bell, I dressed myself up with the blue school uniform, which every student has to wear to attend class no matter what. I brushed my teeth and washed my face, then just walked to my first class in the morning quietly by myself. There seems to be nothing abnormal, it's just like every other day at the school.  
  
I had to learn how God created us all and memorize a 500 words long paragraph about what Jesus had spoken when he came to the human world. Right now, everything is the same, which have become boring to me and I am eager to have something that is interesting in my life.  
  
My hope had actually come true. This happened after the school time was over; I was playing with my new friends. Suddenly, a stranger came out from the woods, he was in a black robe from head to foot, I couldn't tell his actual age, because he had half of his face covered with a scary mask. He also had a huge scar located near his mustache. All the kids around me got really scared and they started to run away. I didn't go with those kids, because I think something exciting is finally going to happen to my boring life. The stranger started talking to me in an extremely low voice, it sounds like there is something stuck in his throat, thus he couldn't talk properly and it also sounds much more like from another world, in the Holy Bible, the word hell suits this stranger perfectly.  
  
"Why aren't you running away from me like the other pupils?" He said.  
  
"I don't know." I remembered not to trust a stranger and never tell him my true feeling.  
  
"Who are you anyways and what exactly are you doing in the school's property?" I started to question him as my curiosity began to rise.  
  
He didn't answer me and instead, he just starts laughing like he has gone insane.  
  
"What is so funny?" I was kind of angry at the odd action from this total stranger.  
  
He never replied me, turned back on me and just walked away like nothing has happened.  
  
I have never been him since and I tried to ask for any information linked to the appearance of him. Every time I asked my teacher who had stayed in this school for almost 20 years, she always tried to avoid me and once she told me I must be crazy.  
  
"There is no such a person like that around the school, you must be day dreaming. Now get back to your work." She stared at me when I asked her about the stranger and she also told me not to mention him again.  
  
I became really suspensions and I though there was a deep secret within this school and it's my duty to reveal it!  
  
The Deep Secret  
  
As the days passed, my memory and principle of finding the stranger has not yet faded. Sometimes I just can't get rid of my own imagination, which forces to think more about the consequences of my action if I have met the stranger once again.  
  
My chance had finally come, after two months of waiting, I eventually saw the stranger again as I was walking through the woods to find any information leading to the real status of the stranger. He was once again wearing the creepy black robe and this time, I had another person with him, who seems to be a young adult, about the same age as me. He was also in a black robe, but I could clearly see his face. Yet there is something missing on his face, not any organs but the emotions of a teenager. His eyes were as cold as an ice tube that has been frozen for 100 years and there are completely no emotions on his face. I bet no one could recognize him comparing to a dead child. Those two didn't notice me and honestly I don't want them to notice me because I am about to following them all the way to their termination spot.  
  
They kept walking really fast, it took me a lot of strength to catch up with them and eventually I was tired.  
  
"I can't just give up my plan this easily; no one knows when the next opportunity like this right now would come to again me". I crunched my teeth and kept on following them, trying my best not to leave a clue to the strangers that someone's following them.  
  
The sun had fallen down the mountains, my surrounds is getting dark by the seconds and it's extremely dangerous to walk in the woods at night especially when you don't even know what exactly you are doing.  
  
The strangers had finally stopped for a break after about two hours of constant walking. I had never been this exhausted ever in my life, I just wanted to lie down and go sleep as soon as possible. But the excitement is pulling me back from falling asleep. Suddenly, the scar face stranger was talking to the other one. I tried my best to get into a closer distance to them without being noticed.  
  
I heard them saying: "we are almost there, just a few more miles and our lives is going to change completely". The scare face said.  
  
"That's right, we are finally going to achieve our goals and the entire school..." Although I tried my best ability to listen, the wind was blowing over the leaves, which mixed up the voice with the strangers'. I couldn't hear exactly what they are talking about, but I knew that it must have something to do with the school.  
  
At about midnight, we finally had reached the destination; it is located at s huge cave on the mountain by the school. There were two large bodies of rocks block the opening of the cave. As the scar face murmured something toward a tiny hole on the rock, there was a loud noise and miracle had happened. The two huge rocks moved by themselves apart just enough to get the strangers in. Because I had a small body, I quickly ran into the cave as the rocks were closing. If I didn't move my body fast enough, I could have been a pile of meatballs now.  
  
The Evil Plan  
  
It was amazing of how big the inside of the cave was. It was as big as the school's swimming pool in both length and width. There were about 20 people sitting around a large stone table, they all had worn black clothes and it seems to be an important meeting for this gang. As the two who I had followed earlier entered, every one was quiet and some bowed down and some even got on their knees. It is quite obvious that these two are probably the leader in this gang or else the rest would have shown that much respect.  
  
"Hello, my dear followers." The scar face stood in the center and said that in a grand voice.  
  
"I m about to introduce you the newest member of our gang, who is also the gifted child we had looked for all our lives." Scar face removed the child right in front of him and lifted him up high in the dull room.  
  
Every gang member seemed to be amazed; they could not talk or move, just staring at the child with all their attentions. They eventually got on their knees and started praying for this child.  
  
I was so confused because the child seemed to be just a normal child in appearance except he's kind of emotionless. The child didn't seem to me have any sort of power that is so great, which made every body respect him and pray for him as their God. A jealousy feeling was coming to me and because I was on the mood, I made a noise by knocking over a piece of stone. The room was so quiet because every one was concentrating on the child and I am pretty sure that they had heard the noise although it was so unnoticeable. I was actually shaking and was scared to death.  
  
They all stood up at the same time, their faces were frozen maybe because someone like me had interfered and ruined their whole plan. The followers started to search everywhere in the cave for me. I held my breath as a follower got near to the place I was hiding, I could see his face and that was not a human's face. There were scars all over it and I couldn't even tell from where his eyes and nose were located. At normal time I would have shouted for sure but maybe I was too scared thus I even forgot to open my mouth. Luckily, I was hiding behind a huge rock, which they could not move to see the back unless it has been removed.  
  
The Discussion  
  
They soon believed that it was just a noise from outside, maybe a rock fell off or something. The discussion about the future of this so-called powerful child went on as planned, the members all agreed that the child would become their new leader who would eventually bring glorious victories to them. They also talked about something that is so horrible and I was amazed to hear such thing like that coming even from those weirdoes.  
  
"So this child knows the secret tunnel to the center of the school?" One member asked with curious previously.  
  
The old leader scar face answered impatiently: "Of course, that is why he is here." "And we will finally finish the job, which none of our ancestors could have ever achieve in their entire lives". Scar face laughed with all of his might, I am quite sure that people from miles away could hear that evil laugh.  
  
I was wondering what could the secret tunnel be lead to and there was actually a secret tunnel in the school! My adventure is getting more and more interesting than ever. I felt proud of myself even though I haven't realized how much danger I am putting my self in both physically and mentally.  
  
"There must be great treasures in the very deep end of the school, which those gang members have to get through the secret tunnel to reach it, yeah that must be it!" I thought to myself. "What else could worth them spend such efforts on if it's not related to gold?" All of this is quite logical, and it is coming together. Scar face must have been searching for the child around the school, who has unluckily been found and standing right in front of them emotionless like he's on a spell forever.  
  
"We have no time to waste in a situation like this!" Scar face yelled out. "Pack up your stuff and get some sleep, we are going to start a long journey tomorrow."  
  
I am still not used to this excitement, but I was way too tired from walking about ten miles with only a 10 minute break and I fell asleep right after Scar face had finished speaking his order to the rest of the gang members.  
  
Secret Tunnel In The School  
  
The morning started as I heard a loud cracking noise and sunlights coming through the opening. I immediately realized that a new day's journey is about to begin, and this time I might found out about the secret I have been hearing all night last night.  
  
I quickly dodged the gangs' sights by hiding between bushes while they show any kind of action of looking at my moving spot. When the sun had rise up in the sky, I realized that I have been walking constantly for about 6 hours straight; I was amazed by my own action. I could believe that I could walk that much in such long time. My endurance has always been the worst among all the other kids and I have always been made fun of because of that. Now I finally proved to myself that I could actually do and keep on my task.  
  
It has been 2 days and 1 night since I haven't been back to school, I was wondering about how much trouble I will get after I finish my adventure, but who cares anyways, it's not like I am actually learning something as important and exciting to my life. So screw the school, I am about to get to know something that's severely been kept as the biggest secret around here.  
  
At about one o'clock, which is according to my knowledge about the shadows. We had reached the school through the woods and it appears that there must be something like a fire occurred in the school during last night. The grand building had been shattered into little pieces and dust. I couldn't believe such serious damages would have happened to the school while I was gone. At the same time, I felt that I was extremely lucky because I might have been burned down just like this building if I was deeply in sleep at the school, which would be even worse than sleeping at the corner of a cave behind a huge rock with weird, crazy strangers in black robe around me.  
  
I once again followed the strangers through a path that I have never been to. We arrived at a point where there is no more sign of any living creature. Even the trees around me were dead and turned gray drying up. It was pretty scary scene just like the dark spot in the forest in every horror movie.  
  
The child, who had been leading us all the way to here, had lifted up his arm, pointing his fingers at a spot where was covered up with thick pointy veins. I guessed that there was the door to the secret tunnel.  
  
Before Scar face laid his hand on the door. The child has surprised everyone; he actually spoke something even though his voice was as weak as the sound a mosquito makes. No one had heard anything except Scar face, who was so close to the child that he could hear anything from such short distance. I guessed that he must had heard something from the child that is not so polite, because his face was so twisted and he was so angry that he was making crunching noises from squeezing his teeth.  
  
"Fellows, unfortunately we have been followed." As soon as he said that, I realized that the child, who was obviously superior in powers in the other human beings, recognized my appearance even though I tried my best to hide myself.  
  
"Just come out before we find you and we might not kill you." Scar face shouted.  
  
It is quite obvious that it's going to be the same consequence if I was found or if I was confessed. I would eventually being torn apart by those insane weirdoes. Therefore what is the point of coming out of my hiding place when there is still a slightly chance that they might not find me just like last night at the cave. "He is right there." The child pointed his finger right at me when the gang members start search around. I knew I was busted and death might be coming to me sooner than I had expected.  
  
Scar face dragged me out from the woods, he seemed have recognized my face from the day he saw me. "So we met again, what an unusually coincidence." He said straight to my face. "How long have you been following us?" The question I thought I would have never been asked was spoken by Scar face. Maybe I was too scared to talk or something else, but I couldn't speak a word at that time even I tried to open my mouth and talk. "Oh so you resist telling me the truth, all right let me tell you then, if I didn't count it wrong, you have been following us since afternoon yesterday." I couldn't believe Scar face knew so much about what was happening. "I didn't capture you because I needed you for something at the right moment, which is right now." He said that as he looked at the position of the sun. "So you see what we are about to achieve is something that is so sacred and essential to my race and to my God. In terms of serving and waking him up from his grave, we have to sacrifice another kid who is about your age. Then our God would help us be glorious once again and take over the whole world. Yet our plan was ruined as the school accidentally burnt down light night. I have been told that half of the pupils were dead and one quarter was severely injured, the rest were either slightly burnt or completely great, but they were sent to another place to stay where is about 50 miles away from here. You see what I'm trying to get through is that if you weren't here, we will have to wait another hundred year to seek for the right moment, right place and most important the right child like this one, he pointed at the emotionless child as he said that.  
  
I had finally realized all of this, this meant far beyond than just such a childish thought of finding treasures, the human race might entirely be destroyed by those creatures if they get to bring their God back from hell.  
  
Ancient Temple  
  
Scar face ordered his servants to tie both of my hands up and stuck a piece of dirty cloth in my mouth. I could barely breath at that moment, and I felt that my miserable life was going to end soon.  
  
The secret door has been opened right away after the incident of me. It must have been thousands of years since the door got removed; maybe this is the first time after its original creation.  
  
As I was forced to enter the tunnel with the rest of the gang, a really stinky smell came toward me even though I could hardly smell any thing. It smelt just like corpses that have been buries for hundreds of years. Thrill came right at me when I saw dark bats hanging in a row off the sharp wall staring at me with their scary ruby eyes. I thought they were the vampires I had always read in horror stories.  
  
Step by step, after a long distance of walking down from the narrow stone stairs, we had finally arrived the bottom of this tunnel, which was probably located at least two miles down the ground level. A huge gate appeared in front of me as the crew stopped, it was about 30 feet in length and 20 feet in width. The gate was completely blocking the way and I had no idea how we are going to get through there. I was actually kind of glad, because if the gang couldn't get in, then their whole plan is going to be ruined and there would be no point of preparing all of those.  
  
Scar face reached for something in his pocket and when he took I out, I saw it was some sort of old fashioned key. The key was quite large; it was about as big as a normal person's hand. Scar face put his hand against the wall and seemed to be searching for a certain spot. As he had found it, he blew the dust away and placed the key right into that spot. The miracle had happened, the huge gate was moving just like the two big stones at the cave. I thought those people must had some special powers, which could change the circumstances that usually worked out in nature.  
  
The next thing showed up in my sight was unbelievable; I have never seen something liked that in my entire life and so do the other gang members. It was so amazing that none of the people there had stopped staring at it although they were supposed to finish the job. Even Scar face had his mouth wild open, who hadn't blinked for two minutes.  
  
In front of all of us was a golden temple and I could clearly see through the building, at the center of the temple, a piece of jewel was placed there. It was not just a normal jewels, I had never seen such beautiful thing in my whole life. Even diamond is nothing comparing to this in front of me. It didn't take me long time to figure out that the jewel was what keeps the whole temple shiny and golden, and I could tell that everyone in this room wanted to get a closer look at it and maybe even touch it.  
  
Every body was marching towards the temple, but as soon as the child had spoken, none of us walked no more and fear was certainly filled our hearts.  
  
"Stop! This is your God and the only way to bring him out of the cage, which is the jewels, is to have someone try to take it out from the temple. Yet I must warn you that there is a great chance you might get killed instantly after you enter that cursed temple."  
  
Some of the "brave" people walked straight into the temple and as the Child had mentioned earlier, they died instantly, not naturally. They actually had melted, their whole body was melt and I could hear them screaming in great pain. The scene was bloody scary to watch and I certainly didn't want to be the next victim of this insane ceremony.  
  
Recreation of God  
  
Unluckily I was forced to go into the temple. Two of the gang members were pushing the back of my body all the way to the opening of the temple. Of course they didn't want to take any step into there after seeing the horrible scene of their friends being killed. So they just left me outside the temple about five inches away from the opening. I knew had no choice but entering this deadly building. I took a deep breathe, and did what I thought was the best for me.  
  
A strong force of wind blow right at me as soon as I had attempted to go into the temple, the strange thing had happened. I felt like that I was flying in the dark sky just like a bird who had lost its directions, and all my memories from my miserable childhood to now were flashing through my head. I remembered pretty much every important thing that had happened in my life. I remembered how my family mistreated me because my father's from the lower class of the society, I remembered how happy I was when I moved to this school and most important of all, my adventure, which had eventually lead me to a harsh situation like this right now.  
  
All this happened blazing fast, it was just like a clip show that summarized my whole life. Suddenly, my vision changed, I found myself to be in the temple, safety and lonely. I could not see everyone else although I was just entered this temple couple seconds ago. I could hear people yelling at my direction, but there was no sign of where the sound came from. There must had been some kind of magic again, which isolated my vision but not my hearing ability. All the sudden, I heard another voice, I couldn't recognize what the words were, but I was sure that it was some sort of calling from a far distance, more like a calling from another side of the world. It was so creepy that I started running to find myself a place to escape or hide, but I couldn't, everything around me were perfectly closed and there didn't seem to be a chance of getting out.  
  
The vision of my life came to me again and this time, all the happy memories got left out. All I imagined about were fearful scenes, it was the worst nightmare I have ever had. My head was hurting so bad that I had to lie on the ice-cold ground and I was automatically banging my head on the floor until I started bleeding. I could not control my feelings; my emotions had completely taken over my body. Death had never been so close to me. I could see a bright light coming from heaven and I guess that's where I was going to end up at. Well at least I wasn't going to have a trip to hell and spent time with all the criminals and murderers.  
  
"You cannot die! Think about us, about our futures." A vision of all the human beings floated on my mind.  
  
"Yes, that is right. I can't die yet, I have to stop those black-robes from destroying my race and take over the possession of earth." I reminded myself.  
  
It was quite strange that right after I thought about my responsibilities, I felt that I am filled up with patriotism and anger, which gave me enough power to stand up and keep my head straight up.  
  
The lights coming from the jewel reminded me that there is no way I would let the black-robes get it unless they kill me. It was my duty and my pride of being a human; caused me to finish the job of destroying the cursed jewel before the black-robe had unleashed their God's mighty powers.  
  
I walked toward the jewel directly with no fear at all and ready to take the consequences of whatever it was going to happen to me.  
  
Secret Jewel  
  
I was getting closer to the jewel step by step; there was completely nothing between us except the intense air floating around. Although my feet were in much pain from all the walking, yet my mind was still keeping me far away from giving up my mission for all the human beings.  
  
The jewel was only a few inches away from my hand; I could reach it in two seconds. But it seemed to me that the jewel was actually moving by itself further and further away from me. It had to be another visionary illusion that caused by the secret power of the jewel. I had to stay strong in both physical and mental ways because I knew that the jewel had somehow sent me a challenge, which is to test my endurance. If I can keep my mind straight without being distracted from anything, then I would be able to finish my job of destroying the jewel. I tried not to think about anything else as much as possible expect of my goal. My head was still bleeding a lot, and now I couldn't see very well from all the reddish blood covered up my face.  
  
Even though two of my senses were demolished, yet I showed no weakness or mercy to the jewel. I grabbed it from its stand, squeezed it in my hand, and threw it at the ground with all of my might left in my body. The jewel had been broken into thousands of pieces and I was so exhausted that I had past out.  
  
In my dream while I past out, I had a vision of happy faces around me and people were cheering my name. I was so popular because I had saved all the people. The major of the town came and officially gave me the title of "Human Hero of All Time." Everyone cried out my name again and I was thrown up in the air by my fans. That was exactly how I pictured my glorious future, I would be famous and my life would totally turn around the other way.  
  
Well, that was only my imagination, although I wish it were realistic. When I woke up, I was actually around by people, but not my kind, it was the black-robes circled me and they seemed to be praying for something.  
  
"Ha ha ha, what are you going to do now, I had already broken the jewels, which means your God will never be released again." I laughed out while I was wondering how they got inside the temple.  
  
No one replied me; I thought I had them good. Now all they can do is to kill me, a pointless and unknown little person, which was worth it comparing to destroying my whole race.  
  
"My friend, you are wrong. Muahahahaha!!!" A loud echo just came out from nowhere and it was making everything in the temple rocking.  
  
I lifted my head up, and I wished I didn't have. My entire body was shaking. I fell on my knee immediately and fainted...  
  
Real Face of The God  
  
Right in front of me, about two feet away, was the most horrible creature I had ever seen. It stood approximately 20 feet, covered by black rough skins, and had huge wings. The face of that creature was unpicturable; there were two horns on its forehead and three bloody red eyes. I could clearly see the sharp fangs sticking out and also the anger from its face expression that had been unleashed for thousands of years.  
  
As the "God" breaths, there were flames coming from its nose, which seemed to be one of those dragons in legend stories. But there was a big difference between a dragon and this creature though. First of all, a dragon usually has long bodies and they look way nicer compare to "God".  
  
That was all I could remember what had happened to me before I fainted. When I woke up again, I found myself to be surrounded by whole bunch of strangers, who are not the black-robes and I had never met them before. They seemed to be just normal villagers, but this might had been another trap set by the black-robes, who used me to summon back their God. The villagers started talking to me in a language, which I had never even heard before in my life. I felt like I was totally lost in another world where I couldn't reach and lost contact with my kind of people.  
  
The villagers were pretty nice to me even though I could not communicate with them. They looked after me for two days without harming me or anything like that. I had been wondering how exactly I ended up there because since I got blacked out, I couldn't remember anything between the time my body had been removed to this place. I believe that this is all part of the plan, maybe the black-robes could not kill me by some sort of religious reasons, so the best they could do is to keep me off touch with people. Then there would be no chance of information related with their ambitious plans of taking over earth.  
  
I knew that I could not just stay at this place, the lives of millions humans were held possession under my control, which means that I had to try my best to inform them about this disaster no matter of what. It would definitely be worth it if I contribute my little life to save every one else. But how could I get out of this boring place, I though to myself many times and luckily, my chance came one day...  
  
The Secret Passage Back to Human World  
  
It did not take me long to find the secret passage back to the human world. I was inspired by the time when the villagers showed me a piece of note left by a human who had been there before. The villagers of course could not read my language, so they were really curious about what information was on that note. As soon as I read through the note, I realized that I was still on earth, yet this place had never been discovered by any one. The villagers were actually humans and they are just the natives on this land. I just used sign language to tell the villagers that I could not understand the writing neither. They were really disappointed and didn't ask me about it any more.  
  
From my understanding of letters and phrases, I thought this note was written about 300 years ago. So some explorer who had traveled to here and could never make his trip back probably left this note.  
  
Well, the history of the note was not important but the information written on it. There was clearly message indicates about the location of the passage that will lead me back to my society and finish my task of informing people about the nightmare about to happen.  
  
During the night, I sneaked out of the mansion and went to the spot where I was instructed to on the note. Every one else was deeply in sleep and I didn't think any one had noticed that I had escaped.  
  
It was about mid night, and everything was completely dark out there. I could not even see my own fingers only if I move they to a close distance that I could almost touch my face. The scream of owls really creeps me out. Sometimes, I just think why am I torturing myself like this, I am just a normal 14 year old, and I am not supposed to have responsibilities like this in such a young age. Well, it was too late; I had already decided to continue my adventure and nothing or no one could hold me back.  
  
After a long period of traveling, it was almost dawn and I could see the tip of the sun trying to climb out of the mountains. I had finally found the location of the secret passage, which was very unnoticeable and I was sure that there was no way I could fins this place without the note. I didn't know how thank this person who left me the note but surely he changed my life and he should share the title of "The Greatest Hero" with me since he got me back to the real human world.  
  
The passage was just a deep hole sticking into the ground. It was kind like a slide but it was 100 times longer than a slide. I reminded myself that there was no time to think non- related-saving-human stuff no more, so I took a long breath and ready to take a big ride of my life.  
  
Back On Task  
  
I had to admit that it was actually fun to slide all my way back to the world I used to live in. It took about 2 minutes to get back. At last, I found myself to be at the base of the mountain close to my school, so that was where I was taken to when I fainted.  
  
The environment looked like exactly the same as before, the same mild moisturized weather. The refreshing early morning wind was blowing through my hair; birds were up to feed themselves with some worm victims. I never felt so eager and glad to be alive. But it was no time for my own enjoyment of life, the slaughter of human race might begin by any second and I still had to inform people in order to save them.  
  
I run as fast as I could to the nearest town I knew. The mountain roads were muddy from the rain last night, so I slipped and fell a couple of times. The wound on my knee was still not completely healed from the previous ceremony of "God", and it was bleeding a lot from there. The pain was pulling me back yet my mind keeps me going at the same time. I guessed my mind had a greater influence and power over the pain; I was still taking my steps steady and quickly.  
  
The buildings were in my sight. I could clearly see people walking around to the stores and visiting other's homes. That was a pretty big town and a rich one as well from the structures and numbers of the buildings and the stylish clothes people wore there. I didn't waste any unnecessary time of my own even though I was really hungry and I was passing by tons of bakeries. I found my way to the local police station and told them my entire story from I was following the black-robes to I entered this town.  
  
Although I tried my best to express the complicated story in the simplest form I could ever imagine, yet the officers were quite confusing about the main idea I was telling them. They said my story was fascinating and I should write a novel about it! The officer obviously did not take this as the reality but a huge joke, and they also laughed at my face because I was so sweaty from all the running and my clothes were torn apart. I thought their stupidity completely ruined the seriousness of the situation especially when a time like this. I was so mad at them that I just gave this whole thing up. I mean who the fuck cares about every one else when they are treating you like a fool. This is all bullshit! I had reached my limit and tried to save those people with all of my heart. What did I get in return? Nothing more than being made fun of!  
  
The pain from the wound is nothing compares to the pain in my very heart. I felt like that I had been abandoned by the society even though I was trying to contribute some thing as big as saving the entire human race.  
  
Time passed quickly without being noticed by me. It was dark already, the streetlights were on and all the families were enjoy the dinner together as well as each other's company. I, who was walking alone down the cold street, was barely notice by any one except a homeless person who though I was one of them and asked me if I had begged for any money today.  
  
When it got late at night, the town was completely in darkness and quietness. I just found a spot to rest and maybe do some more deep thinking.  
  
My Old Friend  
  
The next morning came to my senses as someone or something had landed on my back. I was still not completely healed from all the emotional harms, so I just turned my body over and looked at whatever was on me. What a coincidence, it was my old friend back at the school. He seemed to be in a really good condition although the terrible fire had just occurred couple days ago.  
  
"I'm really sorry that I tripped over you." I guessed that he didn't realize who I was because I looked exactly like a homeless.  
  
"Hey! Man remember me, from our charity school." I tried my best to speak clearly.  
  
"O Man, is that really you?! We were looking for you after the horrible fire but no one could find your body, so we thought you did not make it out." I could see the excitement in his eyes and his voice raised as he said that. "What happened to you? Your clothes are all torn apart."  
  
"It is a long story to tell..."  
  
He stopped me right in the half of our conversation. "All right, why don't we go to the coffee shop and you explain to me what exactly has happened over a cup of hot, creamy coffee."  
  
The coffee shop was a warm place especially in a reason like this, the beginning of the spring. A cup of hot coffee was exactly what I needed to refresh both my mind and my body.  
  
As I was recovered a little bit, I told him about the whole story as much as I told the ignorant police officers. Well, maybe even more but I was so into my story that my memory was coming back and all the incidents were happening to me once again.  
  
"Wow, what an amazing adventure and I trust you, so I believe your story." Ted, which was his name, who seemed to be still wondering about the stories.  
  
He asked me to tell him more details about what happened in the ceremony but I was exhausted from all the traveling and a bad night last night. So we head toward his house right after we left the coffee shop.  
  
"Holy Shit!" That was my first expression after I saw Ted's house, it was more like a mansion. The main build was about the ten times of the size of my old house and it was surrounded by a huge garden where was filled up with detailed sculptures. It was the nicest place I had ever seen and I was glad that I was going to take tour inside and maybe even living in there a couple of days.  
  
"How come you never told me that your family was so rich?" I pretend I was angry.  
  
"Don't be mad at me, we just moved in here about three days ago. My parents were informed that my grandfather just died and he was not really a grandfather to me because I have never seen him in real life." I was really confused with what he was saying.  
  
"Here is a secret, don't tell no one else though, promise?" Ted looked in the eyes.  
  
"I promise."  
  
"Okay well, I was up the other night for something to eat and I heard the conversation between my parents." He whispered to me. "And my mom was actually born in a family affair when my grandfather was married already. So my grandfather abandoned the poor girl he got pregnant with and when he dies, he still remembered this in his heart and since he was the second richest guy here, he gave half of his property to my mom." It was hard to believed not just the bizarre story but also that Ted did not even take one single breath as he said the entire thing.  
  
I really didn't have anything to respond to that but to change to subject. Therefore I just asked him about how was his life staring at this glorious mansion.  
  
He said it was okay and it's kind boring there because not a lot of people is around inside the mansion. There was only him, his parents and a few servants who also lived in different parts of the mansion. He also described to me about how magical his room looked like, there were all sorts of decorations hanging on the walls and he considered himself to be the luckiest kids in the world. I would too, I mean if I can get whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, wherever I wanted, then I'll be qualified as the happiest and luckiest kid alive.  
  
"O Well, it's good as long as great food is served instantly whenever I am hungry and I can get pretty much anything I wanted in the world. And I could always have some fun by inviting friends like you over to my house." Ted grinned at me like the way Michael Jackson does when he takes 12 years old to his Never Land home.  
  
I got really freaked out by that and I thought he was going to abuse me or something. Then I thought I was just way too tired that everything was weird and suspicious to me. So I just went in the house with Ted. After he showed my room, I just fell on the bed hard and head toward the dreamland right away.  
  
It has been one whole week since I arrived at Ted's family mansion; I become part of the family now. Ted's parents liked me a lot and they said Ted should learn my great discipline.  
  
Nightmare  
  
The previous incident of "Black-robes" has already faded in my memory. Well, I mean it has been a week already and nothing had happened as horrible as demolishing the human race. If I just pretend what I experienced couple weeks ago, then no one would know it and maybe truly nothing terrible is going to happen. I was hoping for some sort of miracle like the black-robes and their "God" were being somehow killed or even trapped somewhere inside the mountain, whatever was going to stop them would be perfect with me.  
  
I was really worried this morning, because I just had the worst nightmare last night. It was so frightening that every time I think about it, I felt a chill through my spines. I kept reminding me that it was only a dream, but I just couldn't get rid of the horrible scenes in my head.  
  
The nightmare, probably you guys already know what it's about: the black- ropes. I had the vision of the regretful and stupid actions I did, and how the "God" was woken. His bloody eyes staring right into my eyes. I remembered the scary figure of his and he grinned at me like a hungry wolf. Which also made me wonder how I survived all this, for a normal person, he or she would more likely to be killed after something like that. Why did the black-robes kept me alive but isolated with others instead just murder me since there was no more use of me? Well, there is only one single reasonable explanation to that: they still needed me to do something for them in terms of gaining an even greater power and possession of earth. But what is the "thing" they wanted me to perform for them? I don't think I would sleep well until I figure that out.  
  
My room was all quiet until Ted just popped in front of me. I was so focused on all those questions I had in my mind that I jumped 3 feet high as Ted surprised me.  
  
"What you thinking man?" Ted was all curious.  
  
"No-nothing, I had actually just woken up." I stayed calmed. "What we gonna do today?" I changed the subject.  
  
"O, since my parents are out tonight for some club activities or something, we should plan to do something fun." It sounded like Ted had a great plan on his mind. "Let's have a trip to the mountains!"  
  
"What mountains?"  
  
"The one you said you saw all the black-robes and followed them. Let's go there over the night and check if they are there. Maybe we could somehow ruin their evil plan and stop them." Ted seemed to be really confident and serious as he said that.  
  
"Man you are joking right?" I thought he was crazy. "Do you really know how dangerous that place is at the middle of the night alone. I mean you might get killed and you wouldn't even be able to know what or who murdered you."  
  
Ted was kind of impatient. "What happened to the old Johnny (my name, sorry I never mentioned it before) I used to know, the adventurous one, the one had no fear at all and willing to try anything no matter how dangerous it is.  
  
The only thing I can't bear is that people thinking I am scared of something. I had been known as the fearless kid or dare devil since I was little.  
  
I was not thinking that time because I was furious of what Ted had said.  
  
"All right, if you are willing risk your own life, then I'm okay with it. Let's go to the fucking mountain!"  
  
The Mountain  
  
Ted was so curious and obsessed with going to the mountain. We planned to travel late in the afternoon, but he couldn't wait. I was so annoyed by him, so I decided to follow whatever he had on his mind. We packed up early and went after lunch at right about 12 30 in the noon.  
  
We had to walk all the way up the mountain because the stupid Ted didn't want anyone else to know about this trip other than him, the servants and me. He thought it was already way too many people know about our "adventure".  
  
The trip was actually long and boring, especially when I was going with someone like Ted to the place where I might be recaptured by those ghastful creatures. But what can I do? I had got my pride in my heart, which I could not afford to lose at all. I just had to show him that I was fearless even though I knew that I might not make the trip back.  
  
When we had arrived at the mountain, the sky was burning in a reddish color as the sun was moving down slowly and steady. Ted seemed to be all torn out after the marathon-like running and walking and climbing. I thought he had realized that it was a stupid idea to go to the mountain just to have some fun.  
  
"O man, I am so tired!" Ted broke the perfect silence.  
  
"So do you really want to reach the cave I told you about? I have to tell you that it still is a long way to walk on foot from where we are right now." I didn't show any emotion on my face, but I was laughing inside because Ted looked exactly like a defeated soldier.  
  
"Yeah... sure." I could already tell Ted was in frustration.  
  
"I mean we had already made this far so there would be no point of going back right now." I thought I had become the one who was all interested about this trip.  
  
"Okay then, let's keep going until we get to the cave." Ted could not even catch his breath as he said that.  
  
As we had got deeper into the mountain, we could not travel any faster than we used to because the paths were extremely muddy and slippery. I could not even count how many times Ted had fell and stood up with his back fully covered in sticky mud. "This is the worst trip ever!" Ted sounded like he was pissed off by all the hilarious actions he had done with the mud. "Why didn't you tell me how bad the environment is in the mountain?"  
  
"So now you are blaming me for all this. Don't you remember you were the one who was crazy about going to the mountain?" I responded and I tried to keep my temper.  
  
"But...Ahh" Ted could not even finish the next dumb thing he was going to say, He slipped and fell on his chin again, which shut his big sloppy mouth right when it was needed. I was going to explode if I heard another complain from him.  
  
I helped Ted get back on his feet. He seemed to be more focused on his feet than his mouth, I hadn't heard a word from him for 20 minutes straight, which probably set up his record of "The longest time Ted did not talk".  
  
I could not help it as I laughed out, because Ted looked just like the little brother of "Big Foot", I believed no one would be able to notice the difference between him and Big Foot.  
  
It became a lot easier for me when Ted stopped talking. He was just like a yapping bird who always says the wrong things in the wrong times.  
  
I could not clearly remember the exact location of the cave, so Ted and me had to search through pretty much all the cliffs we saw and finally Ted said the smartest thing he said all day and I was not really expecting it. "You, look! There are too huge blocks of stones covering the opening, isn't that the cave we were talking about?" I lifted my head up and who knows, it actually was!  
  
Clue at the Cave  
  
The cave Ted pointed to matched perfectly with my memory of the cave I was at, which surprised a lot because I was really proud of him and he had finally done something that was helpful. We didn't talk to each other not just because the excitement but it was so late and raining as well that we had to find a shelter fast.  
  
We did not waste no time.  
  
As we reached the cave, I realized that there was supposed to be some secret steps to activate the stones to move apart, which would create an opening so we could get in. But no matter how hard I tried to recall the way Scar face did it, I still could not figure the process out.  
  
Ted got tripped over a piece of rock and he unbelievably did not fall by leaning against the wall beside the cave. As sudden as that happened, a huge cracking voice came out from the stones that were blocking the opening. Ted must had somehow activated the opening as he pressed his body against the side of the cave. Once again, Ted did the amazing and unexpected thing. The appearance of the cave outside did not change at all but inside had altered completely. I believe the black-robes clean this whole place up before they left and make this place looked like no one had ever been here. There was totally no sign of this spot was where a dangerous group of people used for meetings.  
  
"Are you sure that this was the cave you were talking about? Because I don't recognize anything different here." Ted questioned me with the thing I just thought about.  
  
"Well, it was different before. I mean when I was here last time, the cave seemed to be bigger and messier, besides there were sculptures and pictures all over this place." My memory was apparently coming back to me. "I don't understand, they just all disappeared and there is no clue what happened here."  
  
"Maybe this is the wrong place, well that is the most reasonable explanation for this."  
  
Ted might be right, but what are the chances of more than one cave hooked up with devices that could move two huge pieces of rocks?  
  
I chose to stick with my previous judgment, that this was the cave I had once been in although there was not any clue what's so ever. Ted and me were searching throughout the entire place including every corner and side of it, yet there was still so evidence leading to the finding of black- robes. I was super frustrated and exhausted from all the work and so was Ted, therefore we agreed to rest for a little while and restart our search again.  
  
When the time I got up, there was a strong ray of light reflecting across my face. My eyes were temporally out of their duties; I could not see anything but blank spots. It was already noon, which means I had slept through the whole morning.  
  
Ted once again astonished me with his action, the third time since our arrival at the cave; he was so focused on what he had on his mind. Ted actually got up before I did and began to search around the cave.  
  
"Man why did not you wake me up?" That was the first thing I had on my mind.  
  
"O I thought I might surprise you by finding some sort of clues, but I'm sorry, I tried my best but I couldn't find anything." Ted answered me.  
  
"Really? Man this is shocking, you know I would never expect anything like that coming from you." It was true what I just said.  
  
"Yeah... You! Check this out!" Ted started screaming like he's crazy, so I guessed he must had found something interesting.  
  
Ted was pointing at the back of the rock I was hiding the first time I had been into the cave. It was the least spot I would ever expect and look for. I took a peek at it as Ted moved out of the way. The object appeared to be a piece of burnt paper, it was only a tiny little piece but it also could be the best evidence to my search of the black-robes.  
  
I stick my arm into the tiny space between the rock and the wall, and carefully picked up the piece of paper. The writings on the paper were extremely unrecognized and hard to read. They seemed to be another different language from my point of view, well maybe it is. Maybe that was how the black-robes write their letters.  
  
The writing was definitely useless for me since I couldn't understand them at all, but there was a picture of the other side of the paper. It was a shape of something that is so familiar to me; it had been there in my memory for the past few weeks. I was not sure if that was a coincidence or it was all part of the plan. I looked around me... guess what Ted had disappeared. Now who's going to answer all the questions I had. And most important of all, where could he be?  
  
O yeah, I forgot to mention, the picture on the paper was Ted's mansion and a figure dressed in black-robe, the only part of his body shown was his face and it was the least face I wanted to see, Ted was grinning evilly under the black hood!  
  
The Truth about Ted  
  
Suddenly, I realized this, all of the well-processed plan in order to have me involved and trapped in the cave. I had been fooled by Ted the whole time, who somehow just happened to be one of the black-robes. There was no sign of Ted being inhuman like the other black-robes, he acted as normal as the other human kids and he's not like most of the black-robes, who had deep, ugly scars all over their bodies. I imagined that was the reason why they were constantly covered in black-robes. Ted used to be my best friend, who had betrayed me, yet I can't really blame everything on him. He was probably ordered by his "God" to capture me and just leave me alone here dying slowly.  
  
The unthinkable had occurred and I was really surprised because I had no idea Ted would eventually lead me to this trap. There were lots actions by Ted that should have been make me suspicious. I remembered he was the one who found the cave, and how would someone find it so easy when he only heard about the brief descriptions of the cave. Ted was also the one removed the stones by what I believed was an "accident". How stupid was I? Those were really obvious evidences that should have me at least been doubtful at Ted. But I trusted him way too much, maybe because I thought he trusted me too by allowing me to live at his mansion when the time I most needed a place to rest, thus he should had got my equal trust of him. I really learned an important lesson of this: not to trust anyone with all of your heart because you will never know his or her real purpose of earning and gaining your entire trust. That might sounded complicated, yet it was how life had fooled most of us.  
  
Still, I didn't get the last part of his plan, why did he let me know that he was behind all of this. Well, logically, it was his best interest not to reveal his actual identity to me. He knew that I would hate him for the rest of my life if he had done such thing like this to me, this is worse than serving prison time, which I would at least have food to eat in order to keep myself alive. So is it because that he felt guilty of screwing his best friend up or is it because there was more to come than just having me entirely trapped inside the cave?  
  
There was no time for thinking, I was totally stuck inside the cave and I had to get out of there before it was too late. The last thing I ever wanted to happen to me was to have my grave at this creepy place where no human had ever been to except for me.  
  
I guessed the only me for me to possibly get out of there was how I got in, therefore I walked closer to the rocks that were blocking the opening, hoping for some miracles to reopen them again. The surfaces of the area around the blocking rocks were extremely rough and it was quite hard for me to find the device that was controlling the rocks. My right index finger got cut and was bleeding as I got in contact with some sharp metal that was planted in the rock. But I couldn't tell what it was because there was only a weak ray of light in the entire cave, without it, it would be completely dark. I thought it must had been the device I was looking for, so I carefully touched it with my left hand and it was the luckiest moment of my life. The two rocks split apart automatically like the way a prey was torn apart after it's being caught by its predator. They were moving quite slow; I guess the weight of the rocks made it even hard for machines to work on. It was pretty fun to watch the action but there was once again not enough time for fun, I jumped through the opening and ran with all of my strength down the hill to the place I had on my mind the whole day: Ted's mansion. To have my explanation and find out what exactly was happening.  
  
Ted's Missing  
  
The way back to Ted's mansion was easier than ever, probably because I did not have anyone to annoy me and also I had become more familiar with the route. I hadn't taken even one single short break during my trip back and I was almost running as fast as I could all the time. I knew that time was super important at that moment. Anything unbelievable might happen since I will never get to know the future.  
  
I was lucky that I had made my way back before it got dark; there were tons of hungry wolves that hadn't served any food for such long time out there in the woods. I could have been part of them in their stomach by now, which was the worst thing could ever happen to me in a situation like this. I'd rather sacrifice myself to try to save my people in case I absolutely had to, which is ten times better than ate by bunch of wolves and remain anonymous after all the efforts I had done.  
  
Time could pass really fast when you are doing some serious thinking. I was at the border of the town couple minutes ago. Now I had already arrived at Ted's mansion and it was only about six in the afternoon.  
  
The moment of truth finally came; I knew that I might not make it out of the mansion if there were whole bunch of black-robes sitting in the room. But what else could I do other than entering that place? The people wouldn't believe my story, they will just laugh at my face and say: "That was an adventurous story, maybe you should be a writer. I'm sure that I will buy a copy of your book." Every time I hear that, I just get extremely furious and I thought that took away all of my pride. It made me feel useless, yet there was nothing I could do. People did not take the truth as a serious problem, instead they just considered it to be a major joke or something linked to that.  
  
I chose to just walk in quietly since the front door was wildly open, maybe it was another trap or maybe they made it so obvious, it was like a welcome sign to me. Well either way, I wouldn't care anyways. It seemed to be the house was abandoned, I believed no one was actually in the mansion at that moment. So I just sneaked in the main room, still dodging through any possible sights of me.  
  
Sudden a figure appeared in my sight, it looked like a servant, but I didn't recognize his face. Probably he just recently moved in or something. I thought he saw me too, therefore I stayed at the same spot until he left the room. That was really close, I could have been caught and even sent to jail. After that, I just kept reminding myself to be extra careful and I did. I was so careful not just that no one had noticed me; also I did not make any noises at all.  
  
"What exactly are you doing here?" A voice just came out from nowhere when I was right behind the couch hiding myself to make a run to Ted's room.  
  
I looked back and it was Ted's mom. "O, I'm just playing hide and seek with Ted." I thought that was the smartest I could say at that moment.  
  
"Where have you guys been all day today then?" Ted's mom asked me filled with suspension. "And where is Ted?"  
  
"Where is Ted? I have no idea where he is right now, because we are playing hide and seek. He might be in the house and even outside." I realized that playing hide and seek was a good idea, now I've got a reasonable explanation to my sudden appearance. Also, I cognized that Ted did not come back home or else his mom wouldn't have asked me where he was.  
  
So then Ted was still out there on the loose maybe planning some more evil tricks on me. I realized that I was currently in more danger than ever! I had to expect the worst.  
  
Lies  
  
"You still haven't answered my question completely." Ted's mom prompted. "Where have you guys been all day today? Ted's father and me came home in the morning and we were told by the servants that you guys were out since then."  
  
I understood that the first step I need to achieve in terms of saving the world is to come up with a reasonable explanation for Ted's mom and then I could just get out of the house and I would be free like a bird once again.  
  
"Well, we did go out early in the morning and we did a lot of things today." I knew that was not a great lie right away after I said it.  
  
"Things? Like what?" Ted's mom was probably mad because I was talking to her unclearly, and that showed I had no respect for her.  
  
"O, first we went to the store to get some candy." I guessed that sounded childish but maybe Ted's mom wouldn't suspect anything if I make her think that Ted and me did all childish stuff the whole day instead of what really happened. "And then, we went to the library down the street and we read books in there until lunch..."  
  
"Wait a minute, there is no library down the street, are you lying to me?" Obviously Ted's mom knew more about the town then I did.  
  
"I meant the book store." I was hoping there was actually a bookstore in the town, otherwise I'll be in doubt by Ted's mom and get into more troubles.  
  
"Yeah, I guess that was what you meant."  
  
Damn, that was close. I'm always lucky when it came up to situations like this, it's like I was gifted to avoid all the troubles. There was a pause in the room because I did not know what else to say to Ted's mom.  
  
"Then what happened?" I realized that I had to make more logical lies when Ted's mom decided to continue our conversation.  
  
"Ya, then we were hungry, so we decided to go for something to eat. Ted suggested the restaurant near the library, I meant the bookstore and we just ate there." I continued my fascinating story.  
  
"Is that the restaurant where they serve the best steaks?" That was the question I will never expect coming from Ted's mom.  
  
"I...I am not sure, because we did not order the steak, we just had some fries and hamburgers." I had no idea what to respond to Ted's mom's weird question. "So, after we finished our lunch, we had really nothing else to do, so we agreed to play "Hide and seek."  
  
"Are you telling me that you guys had been playing "Hide and seek" for the whole afternoon. Well, it is great to see you getting some exercise but isn't that game too immature for you now, I meant you should know that you will turn into 14 this year." I knew Ted's mom would think that "Hide and seek" was way too inappropriate for kids aged 14, so I had already planned a great respond to that.  
  
"Yeah, we know that too, but sometimes don't you just feel like go back to who used to be when you were a kid, being a person who didn't care about anything and thinks the entire world is around him." I understood the feelings from adults; they always wanted to take breaks from their heavy duties of supporting their families. And obviously they would do anything to be young again, so they could enjoy their childhood once again.  
  
"That is so true, I am glad you could actually comprehend my very deep feelings." She got so touched by my ingenious lie that I could see a little bit of tear coming out from her eyes.  
  
"But the problem now is that Ted might be missing, so I think we should begin looking for him." I broke the complete silent with the best getaway speaking.  
  
"That is right, I'll report this to Ted's father first and we'll go search for him." Ted's mom was still sobbing from my deep-feeling-touching-speech.  
  
"So I guess I will see you guys a couple of minutes after at the front door." I suggested.  
  
"Yeah, certainly." Ted's mom did not want to be around any more and I think she was heading to get some paper towels to wipe her tears off.  
  
"Women are fools. They always put their feelings before the realities." I murmured to myself.  
  
As there was no one looking, I sneaked out of the house just like how I had sneaked in. I was free once again.  
  
The old house  
  
Honestly I wanted to stay inside of the house for couple more hours, and then I could least walk out of the house with a stomach filled with delicious foods. I hadn't touched any food since I got trapped in the cave. To be exact, I hadn't eaten for 20 hours already and I had never been the hungry and this desperate to stuff something in my mouth. The last hope I had was to reach my hands in to my pocket to find some changes hopefully, which would buy me some food. My dream shattered as soon as I saw my hand coming out from the other side of the pocket. There was a huge hole through my pants and I thought my wallet must had fallen out of it.  
  
Well, if I wanted to survive and keep on going of my adventure, which had become more like a mission. I must get some food even if I had to beg for some. I didn't think anyone would help out a stranger like me especially my external appearance was no different with a homeless. But I just can't stand the way people look at you as you beg for money, you could clearly see the disgust expression on those people's faces, who thought themselves to be way more superior than you because they had a higher social position.  
  
But my miserable and adventurous life left me no choice except bowing down to the cruel society. I had to give up my pride even though I was supposed to be treated with respect. After all, I was the one who could change the future of the entire human race; I knew the shocking information that no one else does.  
  
The nearest house from my current position was one of those old style houses; it had a chimney, two windows and one front door. It was a pretty small house and I predicted the people who lived in there were probably retired old grandmother and grandfather. Then they had to be nice, old people are always nicer than others. I walked toward the front door of the house and knocked on it. The door opened slowly, a creepy voice floated out of the door.  
  
"Who's this?" The voice was trembling and I could not tell who was speaking to me.  
  
"Hello! I am a traveler who had been robbed. I am so hungry right now, so could I please had some food?" I knew if I was polite then whoever owned the house would be happy and give me some food and maybe even a few dollars.  
  
"Oh, you poor kid! Come inside, it must be freezing out there. I have plenty of foods in the house." I finally saw the person who was talking to me. She looked about in her 70s and had wrinkles all over her face.  
  
Bull's eye! I thought to my self. My luck was loyal to me forever and it had saved me again.  
  
So I walked slowly inside, carefully not breaking any of the expensive- looking china displayed on the well-polished furniture. I guessed that she was quite rich from all the unique and extravagant appearing features in the house. The inside was a lot different from the outside. There seemed to be a whole different world of imagination inside the house and I could barely notice this house even if I was passing by it. I would never thought of this place to be so wealthy just by observing from the outside of the house.  
  
"So you are a traveler. Where are you from?" She asked me as she was making me some dinner.  
  
"This is the long story." I tried my best to make it sound like I was an experienced traveler. "I actually started from Springfield (a town couple miles away) and I had traveled to many places such as: ..." I named all the towns I knew around.  
  
"That sounded interesting! And tell me, how did you get robbed?" She turned around and gave me a plate of pasta as she said that.  
  
I thought she was probably into my intriguing story. After all, I am still a great story maker and teller.  
  
"I was sleeping in the woods last night and when I woke up the next morning, I just found every belongings of mine were missing. Some one must had stolen them during the night." I didn't want to talk much about it since there was a full plate of delicious, fresh pasta right in front of me.  
  
"Oh I see. You look pretty young, aren't you supposed to go to school in an early age like this." She smiled as I stuffed her pasta into my mouth.  
  
"Yeah..." I couldn't even talk properly with all the pasta in my mouth. I took a deep swallow. "I did attend school and my dad suggested me to be a traveler, because that is his dream when he was a kids and unfortunately, he could never make that dream come true."  
  
"Why not?" The grandmother asked with a surprised expression.  
  
"He broke his leg in an accident." I pretended my feelings were hurt.  
  
"It is so sorry to hear that."  
  
"That's okay." I responded.  
  
"Oh look at this, it is 11 o'clock already, I guess you travelers always had a schedule that keeps you on track with the time." It sounded like she knew a lot about travelers, which I didn't. So I just played along.  
  
"Yeah, I am supposed to be at bed before 10, so I guess I will just go find a spot on the street for tonight. Thank you so much of the delicious pasta." I was hoping she could leave me here for the night, but to be polite, I didn't ask her.  
  
"Wait, you can just sleep here in my house, I am the only one here anyways. It is no use for me to have three rooms empty." She said the exact thing I had on my mind.  
  
"Are you serious?" I had my eyes wild open. "You already offered me free pasta and now you want me to spend the night in your house?"  
  
"Yeah, if you wouldn't care."  
  
"Of course I wouldn't. This is like the nicest place ever." It was indeed even better than Ted's house.  
  
"All right, your room is upstairs, the second room from the left side of the stairs." She even told me the exact location of my room, it sounded like I owned that room or something. "I really appreciate your generous treat." I guess I will see you tomorrow.  
  
I walked upstairs into my room. Wow, that was a huge room with beautiful decorations. I just jumped on the fluffy bed and fell asleep without even taking my clothes off.  
  
Real Face of Grandmother  
  
A huge "Bang" woke me up the next morning, or more appropriate noon, I got up and rushed down to where I thought the noise was coming from. It was actually nothing too dangerous and serious at all. I saw the grandmother leaning down to reach for the pan, which she had dropped by an accident, and she was just making breakfast for me.  
  
"It should be the time you wake up." That was the first thing she said to me. "Did you have a good sleep? Did anything in the room disturb you?"  
  
"Yes, I had a good sleep, it was actually one of the most comfortable sleep I have ever had since I started my journey." What I said was true, I usually feel really tired after I woke up, but not this time.  
  
"Great! Take a seat and help yourself out." She added with a big smile on her face.  
  
"There are tons of cooked pancakes over there and if you like it, there is maple syrup behind where the salt is. She pointed at the counter as she said that. "Don't be shy, treat yourself like you are at home."  
  
I did what she told me. As soon as my taste buds on my tongue touched the well-cooked pancake, I was stunted. That was the most amazing taste pancake ever! It was so perfect that any expert would give ten out of ten if they had tried it.  
  
I wished I could just stay in this house forever for the rest of my life. I mean who couldn't when you don't have to pay any rent in live in such a nice place especially there was a kind grandmother beside you whenever you are hungry, and she will make tasty, mouth-watering food for you. I was sure that the grandmother wanted me to stay as well, so she would at least have anyone to talk to and spend time with. But I couldn't, not because I didn't want to, but the feeling of responsibility was pushing me away from my selfish desire. I made my way up and talked to the grandmother.  
  
"I don't know how to thank you, but it was very kind of you to let a stranger like me stay." My voices were trembling as I said that. I guessed that I was still not completely sure that if I wanted to leave. "But I traveler like me must continue my journey until I had reached my goal. I think a sensate old lady like you would understand my feelings."  
  
"Yeah I guess so. It is good to sometimes have a good person like you to be around." She seemed to be enjoyed my company as well.  
  
"So, I might come back here later if I had achieved my goals. I would bring you something nice to thank you." I meant that.  
  
"That is unnecessary. I hope too to see you again." There was always a big smile on her face whenever she talked to me.  
  
We did not talk to each other after this; I put on my shoes and was ready to step out of the door. Suddenly a voice came from my back. It was not the grandmother's nice, smooth voice, it was something else, evil!  
  
"You think you could get away this easily?"  
  
Trapped again  
  
As soon as I turned my face all the way around, I saw the horrible figure that I would beg not to see ever again. It was the harsh Scar Face instead of the nice smiley face of the grandmother.  
  
I could not believe what just happened. The grandmother had disappeared instantly; the Scar face just came out of nowhere. How did he even get in the house? And most important of all: how did he know where I was hiding? I thought I had left no clue of my appearance and I did not notice any one following behind me. Scar Face must have known some sort of witchcraft, which made him to be special and noticeable from the rest of black-robes.  
  
"So at last we meet again." Scar Face's voice hadn't changed a bit, still as evil as before. "I bet this is a quite big surprise for you."  
  
I was still amazed by what had just happened and totally didn't pay attention to him.  
  
"Oh I understand, you don't want to talk to me. Are you way more superior than me just because you are a human?" I had finally realized that he was talking to me and he sounded furious.  
  
"Where did you come from and how did you know that I was here?" That was the first thing on my mind.  
  
Scar Face walked face to face to me, I could even smell the stinky breath of his. I thought he probably did not know what a tooth brush or mouthwash was.  
  
"Since you humans are so stupid. I'll just put this statement into a simply sentence, which you would understand. I was the grandmother." That was a scary grin on his scared face. "Oh yeah, and the pancake you eat tasted delicious right?"  
  
"Yeah..." I did not see where this conversation was going.  
  
"It was tasty indeed, also that was the last pancake you will ever eat!" He burst into laughing right away as he said that.  
  
I was completely lost and confused by what he was saying. From my very best understanding of the idea he was trying to express, he fooled me since the time I had entered this house, because he was pretending to be a grandmother somehow, but I didn't get the part when he talked about the pancake.  
  
"What exactly are you talking about? What does the pancake have to do with this particular situation? I asked and assumed for a reasonable answer.  
  
"See, I told you, you humans are stupid. I can't believe that you still don't get this." It sounded like he was much smarter although it didn't seem to be like it. "All right, I will give you the last hint, let's just say that I had put something deadly in that pancake you served."  
  
"Are you saying that the pancake was poisonous?" That idea was crazy yet seemed to be realistic at the same time.  
  
"Bingo! Finally your low intelligence had paid off." Scar Face had never been this exciting before.  
  
Maybe he was right; I mean if I were more careful and clever, I would never even come into this house. Then my life won't be as miserable as it is right now. Just think about this, I just poisoned myself and even worse than that, I'm sure that I was going to die with my rival laughing right at my face. I could even feel the pain starting in my stomach, which would eventually turn severe and end my life.  
  
Scar Face was indeed enjoying seeing me suffer. I still didn't know what he had against me. If he only hated the whole race of human beings, why didn't he just pick on someone out there? I was sure that there must be something he wanted from me and the only way he could get it is to kill me. I held my last breath before I was going to faint from the pain and asked him the question, which I would want to know before my death.  
  
"Why? Why are you doing all this to me?" I had nothing against you or your race, why could we just live together peacefully."  
  
I thought he was at first confused but after he thought about it for a while, with a few frowned. He had decided to tell me something that I will never forget, not even in my grave after I was buried.  
  
He said: "The truth is that your father was actually a black-robe who had betrayed and disgraced his whole race by getting a human girl pregnant, who was obviously your mom. Therefore you are considered to be half of us and that is unbearable. I was assigned to murder you to make sure that you are the first one and the last one. Fortunately, only people like you would gain the special power to summon back our God and to do so, we must first capture you and we could not force you to perform such a high risky task. That is why we had all this planned out since the first day I met you at the school. We knew that it is your natural instinct to look for adventures and you would throw anything away for it, thus we had you followed us to the cave and the secret temple. It was all part of the plan and since you are useless now. We must make people like you distinct, because you knew too much about our taking over earth plan and also your birth is disgraceful to our race."  
  
Now I had realized all the truth, I had been fooled and involved in a complex plan the whole time and was used wisely by the black-robes. Well, there was no point of me living anyways because I did what I could have done with a good intention, but I guess I should be consider as a failure from both the point of view of the black-robes and human beings, whose lives had relied on me but I could not finish what I had started.  
  
Sudden I felt a severe pain in my stomach and I could sort of seeing a light coming toward me and angels opening up their arms trying to embrace me. Heaven, that was what I was seen and heading.  
  
Truth Hurts  
  
The first vision came to me as I opened my eyes was a golden ray of light. I found myself surrounded by thick colorless mists. I was indeed in heaven, a happy place with no hatred or harm. At least I did not have to face those serious troubles I used to get in. That was my very true thought, but it was actually far away from the reality.  
  
I wished all of this were a nightmare from the very beginning. If I had a chance to change one single part of my life, I would choose not to start my adventure ever. The adventure surely gave me more experiences in life and taught me many unforgettable lessons, which would normally benefit me for life, yet in the meantime it caused me harm in both physical and spiritual ways. I felt like that I have become to a grown-up, who knows the proper ways to deal and fight with a hard life. There was nothing for me to offer any more, I lost my best friend, my family, wasted all my strength and most important of all: I gave up my principles and pride of being who I am, a well-mannered, fearless kids.  
  
It was quite an awful sight to see Scar Face coming towards me with his usual evil grin, which demolished my last hope of this being a dream.  
  
"It is good to see you again alive." He sounded like a real devil. "You should celebrate your luckiness, I was going to bury your body if you did not wake up."  
  
I turned my head and looked straight into his eyes. I could see his expression of mocking at me like I was inferior and disgraceful to him. Well, I maybe am, the conversation I had with him earlier before I past out was floating in my mind. I had the many vivid images coming to me as he described and told me about my actual birth. I was furious and disappointed at the same time because I realized that I had been fooled for my entire life. My parents, who I never met before and never wanted to see forever, originally caused me to suffer such a miserable life. Indeed, I would be living in a much better condition if I were not accused for the sins of my parents. They should feel sorry of what they had done; think about it, my parents put their benefit in the first place and they never thought about leading me to all this troubles. They were selfish and I was the real victim of their affair. I was thinking throughout of my mind with all of my attention, so the appearance of Scar Face was ignored completely by me.  
  
"So, you choose not to talk to me." Scar Face broke the silence and was impatient with my ignorance of him.  
  
I did want to say anything to him, all the truths I needed and did not need were told from him. It was kind of a relief to know all of this; meanwhile it hurts deep inside of my heart. I guessed I was still not ready for such an emotional conflict that would eventually led me up to a hopeless, emotionless person like who I am right now. This is just too much for me to analysis; I could not see what was the best for me to do. I regularly would try my best to escape out of the trap whichever I got into, but now I could not see the point of that. Just like I had mentioned before, I had nothing to lose or offer, which was actually great for my situation. I predicted that I was going to be persecuted for my parents' sins, but that means entirely nothing to me, everything is nothing to me now. I don't care what is going to happen to me next, bad is good, good is bad. They have no differences at all.  
  
Time was passing away from me faster than ever, it was not because I enjoyed my time but I had no concerns at all about wasting the time. Scar Face had already walked out of whatever this place I was at, it was not important and meant nothing to me anyways. No miracles or magic would ever change my life again, I was hopeless and I wished I were dead, forever.  
  
Tears Away  
  
About a couple of minutes, or hours later, Scar Face came into the image again. This time, he was not alone. I could recognize the horrible figure of the creature that happened to be summoned due to my ability. Although I had completely lost my emotions as a normal person, yet the God still gave me a chill in the spine from his appearance. He was staring at me as he entered the room and kept his ruby colored eyes at my direction. I felt entirely hopeless, he had already ruined my life and now it's going to be more messed up.  
  
God whispered to Scar Face in a tone I had never heard of and he seemed to give instructions to Scar Face. His voice was so uncomfortable to hear, it was like some sort of low beat that only boom box could make.  
  
Scar Face pointed at me and murmured back. It was quite unpleasant to see him tiptoeing to reach for God's ear. I mean that was no more secret between them and me, I had been told everything, everything that matters in terms of making me feel hopeless.  
  
I could sense the evilness blowing at me as God was walking toward my spot. I wasn't quite sure if I was ready for this straight face to face contact with the leadership of a race that is completely against mine. Well I mean I am actually considered to be half of the black-robes according to my parents, but since they cannot accept who I am, then I would proudly to claim that I am a human being.  
  
Unpredictably, "God" spoke to me in my language "I appreciate you for bring back to this world, but now I must execute you." The words were so clear; it was going into my brain even though I forced myself not to listen to what he said.  
  
His words were so simple meanwhile totally represented the message he wanted to get through my mind. There was no doubt of what he was planning to do to me next. It was actually a good thing for me that my life was about to end. My innocent soul would be set free like it used to be and I would have another chance of a totally different living at heaven, where I knew I would appear as I die.  
  
Once the message got through, God and his servant Scar Face disappeared from my vision quietly. There was no certain hints of where or when my execution will be, but these weren't important as long as I had already known what I was going to be executed for: the lame consequences my parents had left me to finish. They were the most irresponsible people ever, who would leave all the troubles for their own flesh to wrap up? They showed no particular feeling for me, which every parent would have for their children: love.  
  
Oh well, they were obviously selfish people and what they had done did not only ruin my life yet scar me forever as well. I had no achievements in my dull life, which is considered by many people to be extremely sad. But I could not blame myself for it because I knew that I was capable of accomplishing some amazing experiences but my destiny would not let me to. I am a failure myself not only because of my stupidity toward adventurous dreams but also my unchangeable and disgraceful birth.  
  
The end of my life has finally come as Scar Face made his third appearance in the room. I am a hundred percent sure that I have no regret at all what's so ever. My destiny had led me to this and I can't find other ways to avoid it any more.  
  
I had to face it like a man!  
  
Escaped Again  
  
In my opinion, my experiences of life had trained me to be a man already. I was ready to accept whatever difficulties I was supposed to face later on.  
  
A few minutes later, I was interrupted by another black-robe who I could not recognize, but he seemed to know me well. He came straight into the room that I was in with his order from Scar Face and talked to me.  
  
"I knew that you would refuse to respond my requires, so I just want to tell you that your execution would take place out in the wood at exact 12 in the noon." He left quietly without making a sound.  
  
Well, at least now I knew I was probably located at some place such as a forest or among the mountains and it's about noon since the room was so dark that I couldn't even tell if it was night or day. I also realized that I was going to die alone, without being seen or known by one single human being. I personally don't consider the black-robes to be in my league although I am actually partially a black-robe according to my gene.  
  
There was only a few minutes left of me being a living human with pride. I recognized that it was precious and I must handle it carefully with concerns. There was definitely no time to waste in a situation like this; suddenly I felt a great strength rushing through my blood. I was never this energetic and eager toward surviving. I could no longer control and keep my feeling, my body helped it self up and started thinking about a way to get out from this place. My brain kept telling me that I could never gave up my hope unless I was absolutely, a hundred percent sure that my destiny cannot be changed from my attempting efforts.  
  
It seemed to be no way I could find or think of getting out unless...  
  
I waited, with all of my attention for the right moment to rumble. My opportunity came up the black-robes came in, which had previously informed me about my execution. As he entered the room, he was confused because I was disappeared from my spot. But I was actually behind him and Bang! I knocked him out cold with a rock I had found. I guessed my first task was done, yet I might be facing and struggling in many more of similar mission, which would require great logical thinking and strength in order to get it done with no trace. Imagine the mighty power of "God", it would probably only take him one single punch to knock my head completely off.  
  
I kept myself quiet and sneaked through many rooms and passages. This whole place was like a huge maze; I had always ended up at the spot I was previously at. My strength was getting low second by second and I realized that this was not going to turn out to be what I had expected. There was no way from me escaping from this place if I did not even know which direction I was going.  
  
As I had gone to the room I was trapped in, something caught my sight. It was the tip of a piece of paper showing in the pocket from the black-robes who I had knocked out. The appearance of it seemed to be some sort of map to me, so I approached close to the unconscious body and stick my finger into the pocket. As soon as I took the paper out, I found out that it was the key information I needed to help me continue my life; it was the map of the building I was at.  
  
On the very top of the map, it indicated that this was an old abandoned castle and also showed all the secret tunnel and passage. I read through carefully and found myself the simplest and fastest way to escape. I followed the directions drawn on the map and it actually worked perfectly. The man who drew this map must had been the owner of the castle, who knew every single rooms and their potential functions, because there were many secret rooms such as the torturing room and the hanging room written on the map. The owner was probably an insane man who was addicted to killing people.  
  
There was completely no guard around this entire place, I just need to make sure I was walking through the right passages and keep myself quiet. It was also lonely and creepy as hell. I was starting to wonder if Santen was once living in this castle.  
  
Lighting was in my sight as I made my final turn toward the door. Just a few inches away from freedom, I felt nothing better than this. Certainly, I kicked the door open and took a deep breath of refreshing air into my lung. This is how liveliness felt like when it was desperately needed.  
  
This specific experience definitely made me deepen my realization of how precious life is and I will never forfeit my hope even if the chance is one in a million.  
  
The Woods  
  
I walked through the woods with no idea of the directions. Everything around me seemed to look like the same, trees and bushes. I was totally lost and I haven't had any water or food since I became conscious. My stomach was complaining by roaring like an angry tiger and my mouth was running out of saliva. I knew I must find something to eat or drink in order to survive.  
  
Nothing was greater than the running sound of natural water in my current situation, and luckily I was hearing it more clearly as I walked deeper into the woods. I tried my best to listen and followed the smooth noise of the water, which eventually led me to the spot where the water passed through. I got on my knees and just stick my whole head into the water. It felt even more refreshing than taking a freezing cold shower in a blazing hot summer day. I held my breath, opened up my mouth and just like the water rush in my throat into my stomach. Since the water was extremely chill, I could actually sense it bumping down to my internal organs.  
  
It took me about five minutes to satisfy my requirement for water, I was quite sure that my stomach was filled up with water and nothing else. Now I just need to hunt myself some food. I wouldn't care if it was a rabbit or a deer, raw or cooked, I will clench my teeth into the flesh as soon as I have caught my prey.  
  
As I was just making my paces down the muddy forest roadway searching for my lunch, a huge coach was running fast toward my direction, fortunately I dodge into the bush as it was passing by otherwise I would have been a pile of flat human flesh by now. But who could it be in that coach? I was sure that no one would choose to go to a lonely place like this unless they are like me, totally lost and have no clue of what I was up to and where I was going. Well, I guessed it was just going to be one of those mysterious. I wanted to solve it badly, yet there was no chance I would be able to catch up with that coach.  
  
I was still wondering about what had just happen and suddenly, I had noticed something behind me. The bush was shaking, so there had to be something hiding in it. Maybe it was rabbit or a duck, which would fit perfect into my today's diet. I approached close to it as slow and quiet as possible; obviously I did not want to lose my chance of filling up my belly with a delicious meal.  
  
But first of all, I must need to know what it was and then make the nest decision of how to capture it using my knowledge of outside hunting. I determined to pick up a rock and throw at the bush first, but I hesitated because that would probably scare the prey away, which would ruin my entire plan. Therefore, I judged that I would just take a crazy shot and jump at the spot, if I hadn't run out of luck; I would not suffer starvation for today.  
  
I did what I had on my mind. And I had caught something.  
  
As I took a peak at my achievement as a hunter, my mouth slide open and my eyes were just staring at it. Whatever it was, surely it was shocking and amazing.  
  
Guess what, it was not a rabbit, or a duck, or anything else in that category.  
  
It was a huge turtle about the size of ten soccer ball duck taped together. I could not even wrap my arms around it. The turtle had the most bizarre and meanwhile beautiful shell I had ever seen. The pattern printed on the shell look like the ocean, I couldn't help myself staring at it.  
  
Although I was hungry as hell and needed food, I still could not let myself to kill such a beautiful creature and eventually eat it to keep my body running. My brain instructed me to leave it alone, and I did.  
  
Suddenly, I thought about why is there a turtle here in the woods? That is like the strangest thing ever. Aren't turtle supposed to belong to the ocean or the sea? Well, this entire place is bizarre and filled with unsolvable questions; the most important thing for me to do was to going as fast as I could to make sure that the black-robes wouldn't be able to ever find me. Hopefully I will start a total different life and just live quietly, die quiet without conflicts with anybody, which is considered to be the perfect life for me after all the experiences dealing with the real society out there.  
  
Every Thing Has to Come to an End  
  
The night had finally come as the last sunlight vanished off the tip of the mountains. I could imagine every normal person would suppose to be enjoying his or her companies and delicious dinners. I thought myself, in a special time and situation like this, deserved to have a celebration for my forever freedom. The problem was that I could not see how I was going to accomplish that, I mean look at me, I was all alone in the woods and there seemed to be nothing to eat or drink. Especially that I was extremely hungry and believe me, I would certainly eat anything that is edible, which would be able to provide me with enough strength to survive the night.  
  
If I still kept not consuming anything, I was definitely going to die and maybe eaten by other animals. Thank God that I had found some berries hanging off the trees even though I didn't know if they were poisonous. I just stuffed them in my mouth all at the same time and chew them as hard as I could. They tasted really bitter but anyways my hunger had been gone a bit, not yet entirely. I still needed more food; otherwise I might faint due to severe hunger any time.  
  
My luck had paid off once again; I don't know how many times I had mentioned my blessed and gifted luck. I could always turn the situation around as I was needed badly. As I was walking passing by a pond, a green piece of something caught my sight and it was making a familiar sound, which I couldn't remember where I had heard of it. I made my way close to it and guess what, it was a fat, tasty-looking frog. Imagine that had been well cooked in a campfire and served with the hot sauce my grand mother used to make, yummmm... It must be so good to taste the flavor of that. I was drooling all over my shirt just by thinking of having my mouth in touch with the fat leg of the frog.  
  
I approached my way steady and slowly close to the frog and I just needed a little bit more luck to increase my quickness as I make the final jump. I had to admit that I was quite nervous, because think about it, that frog might save my entire life, and I absolute do not feel guilty about killing a creature right now. My life totally depended on the frog.  
  
A cold breeze was blowing between the frog and me, it felt like he was my rival for life. This is like one of those animation moments where the main characters are fighting against each other. I knew this sounded a little bit funny, but it was true and I was taking it serious. I took a long, deep breath and ready to go for it.  
  
The frog did not notice any change in his surrounding, I bet he was definitely not ready for my surprising splash. He was constantly sitting still facing my direction; maybe that was what makes me invisible to him.  
  
I jumped right at the frog. As my feet departed from the ground and I was floating in the air, the frog was still sitting like a Buddha.  
  
The strange thing had happened, I was only one inch away from catching the frog and it jumped, right through my waving arms. All my hopes were shattered, how silly and useless was I? I could not even catch a stupid frog, which I could tell, was mocking at me because jumped into the short bushes.  
  
I actually thought I was going to die, all alone in the woods and I also realized that my efforts had been simply wasted and disappeared. There was a period of time of me being extraordinary sad and desperate until I felt landing on something that was slippery, and it was alive. I knew what that meant; it was assumably some sort of creature, which would provide enough food supply that I largely required.  
  
I held my hand tightly around whatever it was I had caught and I took it out from the water. Dame, my luck is on fire, it was a huge fish as long as my arm and it probably weighted approximately 5 pounds. I could tell that he was struggling with all of his strength trying to get out from my "hand cuffs". I quickly run up to the dry area around the pond and smashed the fish in the head violently for several times on a rock near me.  
  
It took me about 20 minutes to set everything up, I found some branches and dried weeds and made a spot for cooking the fish. The fire, which I made naturally with the technique I learned at school, was the hardest part of my tasty meal. I had to use the ancient way of making fire, which was largely used in the Stone Age when people weren't at all civilized. Finally I made a small spark after all the attempts and the spark landed on the pile of dried grass. Glorious fire was made as simply as it sounds.  
  
This whole situation turned out to be perfect; I finally got a big treat, which was both surprising and delicious. I guessed I must be really hungry because I almost finished the entire fish, the only part left was the head, tail, with some flesh hanging on it and the skeleton.  
  
I judged it was about 11 at night according to my calculation and I was totally worn out from all the struggling with surviving, so I just found the most comfortable place around and slept with no worry and my stomach full. The sound of stream and the growl of the owls really made me feel pleasing to be in the wild, this is the first time I felt I was part of the nature.  
  
Possibly a New Life  
  
The sweet sound of the early morning birds woke me up the next morning. That was absolutely the best night of sleep I have ever had. It was even better than the one at the grandmother's house, who unpredictably turned out to be Scar Face himself. Oh well, it was a bad memory indeed and I assume it would not happen again as long as I keep distance away from getting near the black-robes like right now.  
  
Walking through the wood in the morning was certainly joyful, nothing naturally felt better than having the refreshing air sucking into my lungs. I just can't get enough of that.  
  
Both my body and mind have been set free; I was no longer frustrated from figuring out of all the complicated escaping plans. All my wounds from previous beaten and abuses were recovering extremely fast due to my brand new life. Now I am happy, healthy and held the possession of freedom.  
  
I danced my way through the path and ended up on the side of a river. I had no time to think, my body just pumped straight into the river. It probably had been one entire month since the last time I took a bath. The water was crispy cold meanwhile pleasantly cool as well. I swam with the fish, which had been my breakfast after a few attempts from me. It was pretty delicious, but not as much as the one I had last night.  
  
As soon as I finished my big meal, I found out that in order for me to possibly meet some new people was to cross the river, because if I kept going along the river, I would never walk out of the woods. I could even see smokes coming from the other side of the river, which could only indicate one thing: people were making fire to cook their meals.  
  
My life was currently great comparing to the rush hour one I had before, but my greed was making me to gain the anxious feeling of changing my life better. Ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted to be part of a warm, loving family. My ideal family is simple, yet it is probably the kind of family everybody asked and wished for. I am a really emotional person due to all the feelings I kept since I was born. I remembered how unfair it was to live in a family with my relatives who did not even like me at all. Also how people judged me from my dirty clothes at the school and thought I was crazy. I just needed someone to love me and they will receive the same amount of love back from the very deep of my heart. That may sound very cheesy to most of you guys, but it was my true feeling and I am sure that there has to be at least one single moment of your life, which you felt exactly the same thing as I do.  
  
Well, the most important thing for me to do was to go cross the river right now. Although I was at the most peaceful place I had ever known and been, yet I still could not completely demolish my alertness. I learned that I could never get loose of my mind; in other words, I had to stay watchful all the time.  
  
Fortunately, I had swimming lessons just before the before had collapsed thus I was a pretty good swimmer. Maybe because I used almost all the swimming positions I knew, it did not really take me too long reach the opposite bank of the river. That was actually pretty good exercising although all the walking counts as well. My bones and veins felt like stretched, which was physically beneficial to me.  
  
I waited for a while to let my tensed body become relaxed once again, and as I got up. The only thing I had on my mind was to find the original spot of the smoke. Hopefully, I would end up with a nice old couple who would accept me as their child and treat me like the way I wanted to be: with love and care.  
  
Owner of the House  
  
Like I had expected, the smoke was coming out from a chimney on top of a wooden house. I could imagine how nice the people who were living in that house, because everything around was so calm and peaceful. This was truly my ideal place for the perfect living environment.  
  
I was standing right in front of the door, deciding if it would be polite for a stranger like me to knock on the door. What if the family inside would not accept me as their new family member? Then I would have to travel all around hoping to find another family. Well, I can never tell the future, the only way to find out was to experience through it. I tried my best to make myself look clean by undoing all the wrinkles on my clothes and since my hair was all sticking out, I had to tie them back like a ponytail. I was also tending to be a desperate child who needed a family to look after. I knew it's not right to earn someone's sympathy by faking and twisting my condition, but it was necessary for me because I deserved it very much.  
  
My right hand was a few inch away from the door, I thought this might change my entire life. If I was lucky enough, I would capture what I had dreamed for, therefore I was begging my destiny to give me another chance to change my life completely around.  
  
I knocked on the door for the first time, there was no answer at all and seemed to be no one inside. My hope had shattered half way, but I could not give up my desire towards my life goal. I attempted again, this time, I knocked even harder on the door. I was quite sure that the crispy sound of wood beating could be heard all the way across the river, which I had just conquered. No one answered again. I was beginning to think that this house might have been one of those abandoned ones, but how is this statement going to explain to smoke coming out from the chimney. Obviously there was someone, or something living inside the house, who was intelligent enough to make fire, so he or she or whatever it was, would certainly smart enough to open the door.  
  
I kept trying and trying, even kicking on the door. Eventually I was tired and felt like a defeated soldier; exhausted and lost the directions of hope.  
  
The amazing thing happened, a giggling sound came from the other side of the wooden door I was leaning against. Meanwhile the door opened, and a girl about my age or older walked out from the house. She was a few inches taller than me, wearing plain clothes that faded even more than mine. The whole time I could not keep my eyes from staring into hers, they looked like the lake of sapphire, filled with surprise and filled with loving. As soon as I saw her with my very eyes, I instantly knew that my life was completely going to change not only because the peaceful family I was about to join in, but also my emotional feelings for her. I would do whatever necessary to get her be involved in my life as a real friend who truly cares for me with all of her heart, and also my partner for life.  
  
This is just like a perfect dream that came into reality; all I wanted in my life had come together after it had been broken into pieces of puzzles. I think I deserved this too, after all the tortures through my childhood and the unforgiving mystery of my life had been revealed. Misery have nothing to do with me now, it had ruined and harmed my life too much, and poisoned my mind as well.  
  
The conversation was started from the girl; her voice was as sweet as honey. It's just like the refreshing air in the morning, which I could never get enough of.  
  
"Hi! You must be tired from all the knocking and kicking at the door." She giggled again at me. "Chelsea, what's your name?" I had realized that I was still sitting on the ground and I had been staring at her for about 2 minutes. I must looked like a loser, which is not great for the first impression and it might do some damage to my future relationship with the girl.  
  
"Me? I'm Johnny." I introduced myself. "Yeah, I had lost in the woods for 3 days straight and the smoke led me to your house." I was just trying to give her an idea of my condition and also explain to her why I was there.  
  
"Oh you poor baby, come in. I'll make something to eat for you." There was no doubt that she would not let me stay at her house, my plan had actually worked out.  
  
I walked my way in slowly. It was only a small, rough countryside house, but who cares, I don't like extravagant living anyways, simple, easy are more likely to be my style, which fits perfectly right into this place. Everything was made out of wood in the house, yet they were extremely comfortable to sit or lay on, especially the chairs.  
  
Chelsea was in the kitchen making food for me, I had never felt so proud to be myself and I kept reminding myself that this is just a little taste of how great my life was going to turn out to be later.  
  
This is great, a suitable place to live, and a suitable person to be with. My life had never been this joyous and blessed before!  
  
More to Learn  
  
I could tell that whatever Chelsea was making for me would certainly taste great, because the delicious scent of the food was floating everywhere in the room as she was cooking in the kitchen. Although I have just served the fish couple hours ago, which I captured near the bank of the river, yet my stomach was still complaining and demanding for more food to consume. I was quite ready for the big meal that I was about to get, and I was damn sure that it was going to stuff me up good too.  
  
Chelsea turned around smiling at me with the plate of tasty-looking food, she walked toward me and I was prepared for my big treat. Her cooking skill is amazing, it was some sort of pasta she made for me, with fully melted cheese pouring all over the top. I hoped it would be as delicious as it looked like.  
  
As soon as I swung the my first spoon of the pasta into my mouth, my taste buds on my tongue sent my brain a message, a message that reports to my brain about this extraordinary tasty food. I swear I had never chewed and swallowed something as exotic flavor as this food made by Chelsea. It was so marvelous and unusual that it almost made me cry, truly this was one of the most memorable moment in my life. I had never realized that even food could be this remarkable. This wonderful, magical moment was all due to the fancy cooking skills from Chelsea, which reassured me even more about my feelings toward her.  
  
"So, how is it?" Chelsea asked curiously. "I see a lot of different expressions on your face, is it because the food taste bad? You don't have to eat it if you don't want."  
  
Obviously my emotions were deeply touched by the food, so I guessed I could not control them as normal. "Oh, not at all. This is actually the best food I had ever served in a long time." I knew that may have sounded a little bit corny, but that was what I had actually thought in my mind.  
  
"Really? Thanks a lot, because no one had ever said it tasted good." She smiled at me once again, which I loved and always wanted for more.  
  
I did not waste no time to finish the entire plate since it was extremely delicious. I noticed that Chelsea was looking at me the whole time I was rushing the food into my mouth, she had a very peaceful expression on her face, which I was quite unexpected. Her expression was more like the sister and brother-like. She smiled at me every time I looked at her into the eyes, and every time that happens, I could see the family lovingness floating in her gorgeous eyes. Well, I had always wanted her to be part of my life since I first met her, and if she really wants to be my sister instead of lover, then it would of course hurt my feelings and confidence in some way, but I would get used to it as the longer I spent time with her.  
  
She asked me if I wanted another plate of the pasta and my answer was clearly yes. I could not remember how many more of those pasta I ate after plates and plates, but I recalled that I ate pretty much all of them. Chelsea seemed to be surprised to see my outstanding appetite. Indeed, I believe anyone would be amazed exactly like Chelsea because my small body doesn't really match with my huge desire for food.  
  
Chelsea and me cleaned up the table and I begged for her to accept me helping her wash the dishes. She was certainly a girl with great manner and she probably thought I was the guest, so I was not supposed to do the chores with her.  
  
"So I see you living here by yourself." I had that on my mind since I first entered the house. Imagine a girl living all by herself without supports from her family, that would be quite ironic and scary.  
  
"No, my parents and brothers are out on a trip to visit my grandparents." She smiled at me again.  
  
"Why didn't you go with them?" I asked curiously.  
  
"Because there had to be someone to stay home to watch for the house." She sounded quite reasonable although a burglar would probably never break into a house like this old, crapy one.  
  
"Oh I see, but aren't you scared to be alone."  
  
"Yeah, a little. Good thing that you came alone. Now I will at least have someone to talk to instead of my cat, who would never understand my words." She pointed at her cat and it was attempting to jump up to reach the wooden closet.  
  
Chelsea and me were having conversation with each other the entire afternoon, we talked about our life and she had actually trusted me and believed my story. I also got to know that she grew up in a family of six, both her parents and her three big brothers. They treated her like a princess not only because she was the youngest, also they loved her with all their hearts. I found out that this is exactly the kind of family I liked and hopefully when her parents come back from the trip, they will be glad to adopt me as their child.  
  
Night had come once again as the sun got off its duty. Chelsea decided to take me out to the field to count the stars while lying on the ground, which was the activity I wanted I do but never got the chance. It was finally going to come true. Now I can understand the true meaning of the phrase: "Good things always come last." Indeed good things are coming to me quickly eventually.  
  
Country life had been approved that it fits me better than urban life. I love this very much and enjoy it even more.  
  
The Old Man  
  
I slept well that night. Finally, there is absolutely no more terrifying nightmares for me. All I dreamed about during the night was my brilliant future. I decided that this house and this family are definitely going to be my companies for life; there is no doubt about that. I also had a dream about Scar Face, but it wasn't scary at all like the other ones. In this particular one, I laughed right at his ugly face because he made me suffer in both physical and mental ways, but now I can't suffer anything any more, because I am surrounded by every single thing I had ever wanted and hoped for. This is just marvelous!  
  
It was raining the next morning and Chelsea had a plan of taking me outside to the woods, but now it seemed to be impossible to do so. After a few arguments and discussion, we came up with the idea of staying home to clean up the house since her family, I personally refer to mine, is coming back soon. We thought it would be the best for us just made the inside of the house look terrific.  
  
We mopped the floor, cleaned the dust on the top of furniture. It was quite frustrating, but I had no complains about doing the chores because Chelsea was with me all the time and that was certainly worth all the hard work.  
  
I guessed we must be a pretty good team that we cleaned up the entire house in only a couple of hours. We even waxed the floor to make it look shiny and brand new. As we were resting on the couch talking to each other about how happy Chelsea's parents are going to be when they come back and seeing the rooms. A knocking sound was coming from the door, it was strange that someone would visit us especially Chelsea's parents were even home.  
  
"Don't open the door yet, it seemed to be odd." I doubted about the purpose of the visitor.  
  
"Don't worry, it's probably someone who's lost in the woods just like you." Chelsea answered me with no sign of fear. "Let's check out who it is this time."  
  
She walked straight at the door. I jumped out of the couch and followed behind her. I was kind of scared because it could be anybody out there, even Scar Face. Although this whole place is so peaceful, yet I still kept reminding myself to stay alert all the time and not to trust anyone else.  
  
The door cracked open, I reached my head to see who exactly was out there and I dropped my concerns right away after I saw the face of the visitor. I had no idea who it was, but I could tell he's not an enemy from his smiling face. He was an old man in his 60s, and had wrinkles all over his face. I predicted he was probably a fisher because he had scars of cuts on his palm, which old fisher men would always have because of the ropes and net they used to captures fishes.  
  
"Oh, this is uncle Sam, Johnny." Chelsea introduced me to the old fisherman. "He had been a really good friend to my family since I was born, my dad used to go fishing with him." My prediction was correct after all, he was a fisherman.  
  
The old man entered the room without saying a word. He seemed to me to be a very odd person, because people usually introduce themselves to others as they first met. The old man was doing the complete opposite action.  
  
He looked around the room and sat down. It seemed that he owned this house.  
  
"I see the room's pretty clean, huh." The old man was talking in an impatient tone.  
  
"Yes, we just cleaned up with house. Johnny helped a lot." Chelsea responded nicely.  
  
I was amazed by the unawareness and ignorance the old man had shown. He doesn't consider to me to be a good friend type of person. He was more like the harsh kind.  
  
The old man lit up a cigarette, took a long suck and smokes were coming out from his nose. He seemed to be quite comfortable with smoking at someone's house even though it's common sense that it's not polite.  
  
"So, your parents are gone." He said with a smoke floating out of his mouth. "When are they coming back?"  
  
Chelsea paused, then she said: "They will be back pretty soon, maybe next week..."  
  
"Next week! That's what you told me last time I came here." The old man suddenly changed his temper from ignorant to furious. "Don't you dare bullshitting me!" He stood up and stared at Chelsea.  
  
I felt anger inside, and I promised myself that wouldn't let anybody yell or hurt Chelsea in front of me, therefore I came up to the old man.  
  
"What the fuck is your problem?" I could never imagine I would say something as harsh as that especially in a peaceful environment like this. "This is not your property, you have no right to yell at Chelsea.  
  
Expressing my feelings made me feel a lot better, but I had never thought about the consequences.  
  
The old man was surprised; he would probably never expect those words from me. He paused for a while and then he laughed, the kind of laughed that was common with Scar Face's, an ingenious evil laugh. Suddenly, he lifted his hand and smacked me right in the head; the impact was so great that I flew couple feet away after I was hit.  
  
Chelsea cried out, she was pulling the old man back from hitting me even more. There was blood pouring out from the cut in my mouth. I can't believe what had just happened, I got beat up by an old grandfather. The old man shook Chelsea and swung her around, I made my way up and was ready for a hell of a fight!  
  
Toughness Inside of Me  
  
There was an incredible force coming through my body, I threw a hard punch and it landed right on the side of the old man's face. I could tell he was knocked out for a couple of seconds. During that short period of time, I told Chelsea to run away from the house so she would not get hurt and she followed my instruction.  
  
After the old man gained back his consciousness, he also realized that this is going to be a fight for life. I regretted that I had turned my back to my opponent, as I was about to face the direction of the old man, a vicious punch came straight between my eyes. I was focusing so much on Chelsea's safety that I had wasted my precious fighting time. The old man took the advantage and his cheap shot.  
  
I backed away for a few feet; my face was half numb from the forceful punch. The old man picked up a wooden chair, obviously he chose to fight dirty, not like a man. My situation was pretty tight and intense. I had to battle my way out in order to stay safe and also make sure that the one I love stay safe as well.  
  
The old man was approaching me slowly while swinging the chair above his head, showing the sign that he's got a weapon. I looked around to anything that would contribute for me in this fight, but there seemed to be nothing that is useful except the pan in the kitchen and the broom at the corner of the door. I recognized that I had to make a strategy, just like the old saying: "fight requires both physical and mental skills." Of course the old man had much more experiences of fighting than I do, by now he must had mastered the ultimate fighting skill. So I had to try to win by my head through thinking.  
  
There was nothing between the old man and me except empty spaces and air. The old man might strike me anytime; he's just waiting for the perfect time to do the most damage possible. I was still backing up until my spines were totally against the kitchen wall. I knew I had no choice except making a move to protect myself. I suddenly ran toward where the pan was located and the old man completely did not expect this. He probably thought I was scared to death and was going to faint.  
  
I reached the pan and grab the handle tightly inside my palm. I also grabbed a couple of forks and threw toward the old man. He was certainly distracted from my outstanding action and the forks hit him right in the head. Especially one of the forks nailed him in the eye. He shouted out loud and even dropped the chair that I held as a weapon to threaten me before. I did not waste any time like I did before, since the situation was getting more and more serious. I jumped at the old man and swung the pan aiming at his face. "Bang!" I whacked him perfectly in the forehead with all of my strength, which absolutely knocked him out and sent him half way to hell. The old man was shaking like a vibrator and fell on his back. A stream of blood was pouring out from his forehead between his eyes through his face all the way down to the neck. My triumph was victorious, yet I also paid a big price in exchange for it. The side of my face was still numb, but I had no time to care about my own body. Chelsea got hurt too; imagine all the pushing and shoveling from the old man. A teenage girl can't take that much suffer. I wondered and doubted about her current condition.  
  
I walked out of the house, expecting to see Chelsea smiling like me even though she's injured as much as I did, but she wasn't there at all. There was absolutely no sign of her. I had to find Chelsea, she indeed ran away from the house; further than I had expected.  
  
My life would become rough and colorless without her; she's like the incredible, constant light supply that makes my dull life vivid. I definitely can't ever afford to lose her!  
  
Chelsea  
  
Although I was in such a beautiful environment and surrounded by peaceful creatures, yet I could not stop myself been upset. I can't picture how I would survive my future without Chelsea by my side.  
  
The question I had on my mind was: How could she disappear so fast? I remembered that she was hurt badly maybe even worse than I did and logically, an injured person would not run away that fast or that far. Is that a possibility that she got kidnapped? I certainly cross my fingers and hope that would never happen. This is just so confusing, it doesn't seem match from the beginning to the end of the entire incident. Maybe this is all part of a new ingenious plan set up by the black-robes. They knew that I could not bear the fact that Chelsea is missing, so they secretly planned all of this and sent the old man to fight me. As I was focusing all my attention to the vicious old man, they took Chelsea away from me. That seems to make a lot more sense than what the current situation appears to be. But how could they find my location times after times no matter where I hide? Whatever the game the black-robes are playing with me, is pissing me off and caused me more and more hatred toward them.  
  
The problem now is that I must find where Chelsea has gone. There appeared to be no clue of her, not even a shoe trace out the door. She just suddenly vanished from my world and the thing is that I can't even risk my life to get her back, which I would definitely perform.  
  
I returned back into the house, and hoping to get some information from the old man. He was lying on the ground with no sign of liveness inside of him. I would not believe that I had killed him because I did not even hit him that hard in the head. He's probably just knocked out to a degree that he had lost his consciousness completely and he could not control his body no more. I went to the bathroom and walked out with a bucket of cold water, which I was about to pour over the old man to make him wake up.  
  
It worked as I had expected. The old man opened up his eyes and attempted to sit up. I guess he was probably too old to be damaged like this; he could not even lift himself up on his feet.  
  
"What else do you want from me!?" The old man shouted at me desperately. "I'm just trying to finish my job to save my family." A stream of tear was pouring from his eyes.  
  
This is getting so emotional and confusing as well.  
  
"Whom are you working for?" I knew that was someone behind all of this.  
  
"I don't even know them or seeing their face because they were covered up by black clothes all the time." The old man was still crying. "They kidnapped my wife and my daughter, and they told me to kill you in exchange to get my family back."  
  
Wow, that was shocking. I thought to myself. Just like what I have suspected, once again, the black-robes are attempting to ruin my perfect life.  
  
"So where exactly is Chelsea?" I asked seriously.  
  
"I seriously don't know." He sobbed. "All if know about this whole thing is that I had to complete the task assigned from the black-robes in order to keep my own family safe.  
  
"Don't bullshit me!" I yelled straight at his face toughly. "Tell me where Chelsea is otherwise you won't be able to see your family again even though they are safe!"  
  
The old man tried to crawl out of the kitchen reaching for the door; obviously he was way too slow for escaping. I grabbed a chair and threatened him with it.  
  
"All right! I'll tell you where she might be, just please don't kill me." Violence was sometimes useful in a twisted situation. "You have to go along the river and as you see a hut made out of dry grass, which is possibly where the black-robes are hiding and maybe Chelsea's there with them. Oh... please don't hit me again! I told you all I knew."  
  
Well, I guess I was left with no choice expect staring my adventure again, this time it's not for my own selfish satisfactions but also the brilliant future between me and Chelsea.  
  
I had settled my mind that no matter how dangerous that place is; I would still go without a doubt and reach my maximum ability again to rescue her. 


End file.
